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"That's utterly crazy talk. No one thought it was 'a good idea' on the actual days during rush hour, when cars were bowling down Hythe Bridge Street straight into the junction without bothering to slow down. Coming from the Oxpens Road direction, the junction and turn into Hythe Bridge Street is 'blind' so even if you've encountered the rare instance where another driver gives way to you, you're lucky if you make it through that box in one piece without being sideswiped.

Yet again another case of Oxford City Council's 'Mad Hatter' approach to the City's roads.

Though of course it'd probably save a few quid not to run those lights, it would be a lunatic decision for road safety."

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Calls for traffic lights to be axed

Oxfordshire County Council cabinet member Rodney Rose by traffic lights in Frideswide Square

IT IS one of the busiest junctions in Oxford and a gateway to the city centre.

So when Frideswide Square’s traffic lights failed at rush hour, you may have thought it would cause an outcry.

But what you might not have expected was motorists saying the complex junction ran much smoother than when the signals were on.

The accidental experiment came just three weeks before Oxfordshire County Council publishes a new report on the future of the square –
and sparked a debate about how best to make traffic flow through the busy junction.

Even Keith Mitchell, leader of the county council, was impressed after the lights went out last Thursday and Friday. He wrote on social
networking site Twitter: “Frideswide Square at Oxford station working well this morning with no traffic lights. Long may it continue!”

But city cyclists described the light-less junction as “a bit hairy”.

The signal failure, caused by a cable fault, acted as an impromptu test for the council’s long-term plan to overhaul the junction.

It wants to remove the lights and replace them with a system of roundabouts to improve what is regarded as one on the city’s worst bottlenecks.

A fresh report on the plan will be made public on Thursday, March 24, but although the authority has £300,000 for the design work, it has not yet got the estimated £5m needed to carry out the work.

County cabinet member for transport Rodney Rose said the signal failure was not a fair test as it happened during the school half-term break, when city traffic is lighter.

He said a council worker had witnessed a near-miss between a car and cyclist, and added: “If the argument is to leave them off for good then the answer is ‘no’.”

But he did stress that remodelling the junction was “pivotal” to solving the city’s chronic congestion.

Mr Rose said the council would bid for any available funding, including the Government’s £560m sustainable transport fund, launched in January.

He said: “It fits the criteria quite well and its impact on Oxford makes it even better from a sustainable transport point of view.”

Taxi drivers have called for lights to be removed since they were first installed about a decade ago.

Alan Woodward, secretary of the City of Oxford Licensed Taxi Cab Association, said of last week’s signal failure: “It flowed perfectly. The only hold-ups were going out of town in the evening
because of the traffic lights further up Botley Road.”